Slackener control for loom warps



Dec. 28, 1937. w E, R. H LME 2;103,783

' I SLACKENER CONTROL FOR LOOM WARPS Filed March 2, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet l Attorney I Dec. 28, 1937. E. R. HOLMES SLACKENER CONTROL FOR LOOM WARPS Fil ed March 2, 1936 s Sheets-Shgbt 2 I Inventor Hbfldqe R. Hohnes T w qr Attow Dec. 28, 1937.

E. R. HOLM ES SLACKENER CONTROL FOR LQOM WARPS 3 Sheets-Sheet. 3

Filed March 2; 1936 Attorney Patented Dec. 28, 1937 PATENT OFFICE SLACKENER CONTROL FOR LOOM WARPS Elbridge R. Holmes, Worcester, Mass, assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 2,

14 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in control mechanism for warp slackeners of looms and it is the general object of the invention to provide a convenient control effective to slacken the warp at some period in the cycle of the loom operations prior to beat-up of the lay.

For illustrative purposes I have described the invention in connection with a loom for weaving tapes to hold the slats of Venetian blinds, al-

though the invention is not limited to use in that connection. In such a loom crossing warps are carried with two vertically spaced systems of Warp threads and at periodic intervals pass from one system to the other to provide the cross strips if) necessary to support the slats. When the point is reached in the loom cycle for the crossing it is necessary to give an extra feed to the crossing warp and I have found from experiment that it is desirable to start the slackener with the lay in a 9, rear position and preferably have the crossing warp completely slack before the lay reaches its foremost position. By such a control the weft thread laid by the shuttle can be drawn taut from the opposite selvage Without interference by the crossing warps. If the warps are slackened too late in the forward beat of the lay their tension cannot be overcome by the weft and the latter form small objectionable loops at the selvages. It is an important object of my present invention to provide a control for the slackener preferably though not necessarily deriving its driving force from the lay and so controlled that slackening is completed before the shuttles come to rest, thereby permitting the weft to be drawn tightly from the selvage without the formation of loops.

The warp slackener set forth hereinafter has a relatively quick working stroke to supply the excess warp necessary for the crossing, after which it has a return non-slackening stroke preparatory to the next operation. Depending upon the interval between crossings the slackener will remain relatively at rest after completing its non-slackening stroke. It is a further object of my present invention to provide two separate actuators for the slackener, one of which gives the slackener its operative feeding stroke and also renders the other actuator operative to give the slackener its return idle stroke. The second actuator may derive its feed from a regularly moving element which moves out of driving relation with respect to its actuator when the slackener com-- (is) a control which will complete the slackening dur- 1936, Serial No. 66,530

ing the forward beat of the lay before the shuttles reach the end of their motion, which in some looms occurs when the lay is about one inch from front center position. The slackener control may employ a cam having a high point to hold the slackener in idle position, a steep decline to effect feeding, a low dwell which becomes effective before the shuttles stop moving, and an incline to return the slackener to normal position.

It is desirable that the interval between crossings of the crossing warps be variable as to longitudinal spacing along the webs without changing the mechanism which gives the slackener its feeding and non-feeding strokes. It is accordingly a further object of my invention to provide means for giving the slackener three conditions or periods in which the slackener will have a feeding movement, a return non-feeding movement. and. an idle period the length of which depends upon the desired interval lapsing between successive crossings of the crossing warps. This result I may achieve by adding to the actuators already described an additional controller exercised by some variable part of the loom, such for instance, as the pattern mechanism or other type of counter, to determine the length of the period of idleness of the slackener and to be operative at the end of the period to start the feeding operation of the slackener. While I have set forth hereinafter an order of operation in which the period of idleness follows the return stroke, yet I am not necessarily limited to this particular sequence.

With these and other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig. l is a vertical section through a loom having my invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a detailed diagrammatic view of one form of pattern mechanism which may be used to initiate the feeding operation of my invention,

Fig. 3 is a plan view on an enlarged scale in the direction of arrow 3, Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a view similar to the lower right hand part of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale,

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show the parts in different positions during the cycle of operations,

Fig. 8 is a. diagrammatic view showing the relation between the stroke of the return pawl and the locking disk, and

Fig. 9 is a detail of the cam which controls the slackener.

Referring to Fig. 1, I have shown a loom frame to having a breast beam II and a lay l2 moved back and forth by a connector l3 driven by the top shaft l4. The lay has mounted thereon upper and lower decks of positively moved shuttles l5 and 46, respectively which, by connections not shown but well understood, are driven through upper and lower sheds l1 and I8, respectively, defined by ground warps W and W, respectively;

The crossing warp C extends under a slackener bar l9 hung on arms 29 depending from a shaft 2| rotatable in the loom frame and then extends forwardly in two sheets, one for the upper and the other for the lower shed. Mounted on the breast beam is a structure designated generally at A which is for the purpose of spacing the two webs and includes a crossing warp advancer 22 which may operate as does the corresponding element in my Patent No. 2,025,366. The structure A of itself forms no part of my present invention but does operate to project the advancer 22 behind the crossing warps on crossing beats of the loom to effect advancing of the crossing warps relatively to the fabrics to form supports for the slots of the Venetian blind. During the forward movement of the advancer it is desirable that the crossing warps be slackened and this latter result is accomplished by my present invention.

The bottom shaft 25 of the loom is geared in the usual way so as to have a revolution every second beat and a cam 25 secured to the bottom shaft and having an incline 2'5 serves to rock a resetting lever 28 every second beat of the loom. This lever rocks on a stub shaft 29 held me fixed stand 39 mounted on the cross girt 31 of the loom. The lever 28 has an arm 32 slotted at 33 to aiford circumferential adjustment for a stud 94 around the stub shaft 29. A resetting pawl 35 is pivoted on the stud 94 and is positioned for cooperation with a ratchet wheel 39 secured to shaft 29. During loom operation the pawl 35 has a motion to the left as viewed in Fig. 4 every second beat of the loom due to the cam 26 which turns in the direction of arrow a, Figs. 1 and 4. A hold pawl 31 pivoted on a stud 38 adjustably mounted on a fixed stand 39 prevents retrograde motion of ratchet Wheel 35.

A-support 49 on the structure 39 carries a stud 4| on which is pivoted a control lever 42 the right hand end of which as viewed in Fig. 4 is adjustably connected to a lifter rod 43 operatively connected by a cable 44, Fig. 1, to a lever 45 in the pattern mechanism of the loom. As indicated in Fig.2 the pattern mechanism is the well-known Knowles head and includes a vibrator lever 49 to rise and fall under control of pattern chain 41 and carrying a vibrator gear 48 pivoted to a con neotor 49 to give motion to lever 45. The Knowles head is well understood and it is thought sufficient for the purposes of the present invention to state that upon indication from the pattern chain connections operate to lift the rod 43 preparatory to a crossing of the crossing warps. The harness mechanism H of the loom is also controlled by the head. It is convenient to have the head provided with a drop box section and instead of using drop boxes, use one of the vibrators of that section to call the slackening operation of the loom.

The control lever 42 has a V-tooth 59 to fit into V-notches 5| .and 5m formed in a disk 52 secured to shaft 29. A horn 53 extending upwardly from lever 42 has a laterally projecting pin 54-positioned to lie over a tail 55 on the return feed pawl 35. The tail may be substantially concentric with the shaft 29. V

The rod 49 may conveniently be attached to a stud 56 on lever 42 and projecting laterally to lie under a setting arm 58 pivoted at 59 to an arm 69 movable freely about shaft 29. A rod 61 extends from-arm 60 forwardly'to be connected to the lay at 62, see Fig. 1, to effect rocking of the arm 60 from the full to the dotted line position of Fig. 7 every beat of the loom. A feed pawl 63 pivoted about axis 59 is controlled by a pin 64 on arm 58 movable between upper and lower stops 95 and 65, respectively, on the feed pawl. The latter has a square tooth 67 which enters square notches 68 and 68a formed in feed disk 6.. secured to shaft 29. A spring lock 51 between arms 58 and 69 .moves arm 58 to its extreme positions determined by disk 69 and stop 19 on arm 69 to engage stop 96. A shield TI on fixed support 39 cooperates with an ear l2 projecting laterally from pawl 63 to hold the latter either positively up or down, as the case may be, relatively to disk 69. A trip 15 at the left end of and pivoted relatively to shield TI is in position to engage ear 12 on the return stroke of pawl 63 to raise the latter if down, and yields if the pawl tooth 67 be in notch 68 on a working stroke. Trip 15 moves about its axis '16 under action of a spring Tl. A resetting pin' 89 is adjustably mounted as indicated in Fig. 5 on support 49 to engage link 53 and return the latter from the full to the dotted line position of Fig. '7 relatively to arm 59.

The mechanism for effecting slackening of the warp is shown in Fig. 1, where cam 90 is shown with high and low dwells 9i and 92, respectively, joined by declines andfinclines 93 and 94, respectively. A lever 95 pivoted at 98 is connected to a rod 9'! which by a chain 98 and second rod 99, transmits force to an arm I90 on shaft 2|. The slackener bar is suspended from the shaft 2| by arms 20 and is thus controlled by cam 90.

Under normal conditions just prior to the crossing of warps C lever 42 will be down and the disks 52 and 69 will be stationary, since the locking tooth 59 is in one of the V-notches, as 5| in Fig. 6. Return pawl 35 is therefore disabled and held in the dotted line position shown in Fig. 5 by pin 54, and pawl 63 is out of the'notches B8 and 68a, being held in the position shown'in Fig. 6 by the spring lock 51. As cam 26 rocks lever 28, therefore, the return pawl 35 will have idle strokes in both directions. The tail 55 is long enough to engage pin 54 throughout the stroke of lever 28, and is preferably concentric with the stub shaft 29. Also, as the lay beats up to rock arm 60, pawl 63 will have an idle stroke to the left, ear 72 riding over shield TI. Stub shaft 29 and the parts secured thereto remain at rest, with cam 99 holding lever 95 in its lowest position to maintain slackener bar 20 rearward.

As weaving continues the pattern mechanism will indicate a crossing warp operation, rocking w lever 45 to lift lever 42 from the full to the dotted line position shown in Fig. '6, which accomplishes three results, namely, lock tooth 59 moves out of notch 51 to release disk 52, stud 56 engages arm 58 to move tooth 6'! from the position in Fig. 5 into notch 68 as shown dotted in Fig. 6. and the stud 54 moves up to permit descent of the left end of the return pawl 35 by gravity into operative relation with ratchet 36. The operation just described occurs when the lay is in back centerposition withlever B9 in its lowest position. As the lay moves forwardly to rock lever 69, tooth 61 in notch 68 will rock shaft 29. and its disks through approximately 90, or from the full to the dotted line position shown in Fig. '7. This gives cam 99 a quarter turn to the left from the position shown'in Fig. 1, thereby permitting lever 95 to rise and permit bar I9 to move forwardly under action of the crossing warps C as the 'a'dvancer' moves them forwardly.

During this feeding stroke of the cam the ear 12 will move under the shield H to prevent accidental dislodgement of the tooth 61 out of notch 68 and upon moving to the extreme end of its left hand motion the ear will pass under the trip 15, temporarily raising the latter. The loom is timed so that pawl 35 is held at rest by a dwell on cam 26 at the end of the rocking period of shaft 29 by pawl 63, hence pawl 35 does not interfere with the slackening operation.

As lever 60 approaches its left hand limit of motion the pin will engage arm 58 to move the pawl 63 back to the idle or inoperative position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7. On the immediately ensuing backward motion of the lay, therefore, the shaft 29 will remain in its new position.

The next motion of the pattern chain will return lever 45 to normal position and lever 42 will be free to fall on an unnotched surface of disk 52 half way between the notches 5| and am. For a predetermined number of alternate beats thereafter return pawl 35 will advance ratchet 36, and therefore shaft 29, toward normal position. Pawl 35 is able to act thus because pin 54 is up due to the fact that tooth 54! is on a high part of disk 52. The sweep of pawl 35 is shown at S, Fig. 8, the disk 52 moving progressively step by step relatively to the sweep.

In time, however, the progressive feeding of the ratchet will move notch 5|a under the lock tooth 50 and the latter will thereupon fall into said notch, thereby lowering pin 54 which disables pawl 35 and prevents further feeding of the ratchet. The parts are thus returned to normal position preparatory to another operation. This return will ordinarily be effected during a period less than that occurring between successive crossings of warp C, hence the spacings of the crossings can be varied as desired and is not limited by the time required to reestablish the mechanism to normal position.

The cam 96 is so formed that when moving a quarter turn from the full to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 9 it will effect complete slackening of the bar l9 a short time before the lay reaches front center position, this result being accomplished by a dwell area 92 concentric with the shaft 29 and arranging the parts so that this area becomes operatively related to lever 95 when the lay is a short distance, as for instance one inch, from front center position. During the return motion effected by pawl 35 the inclined surface 94 depresses lever 95 gradually, thereby effecting a slow return motion of bar l9 until a few picks have been laid in the ground webs to bind the crossing warps before the latter are subjected to any additional strain.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided mechanism for slackening the crossing warps at periodic intervals and then returning the slackening mechanism to normal position prior to the next call for a crossing of the wraps. In this way provision is made for considerable variation in the spacing of the crossing warps without undue limitation on the part of the structure which returns the slackener to its normal position. It will further be seen that the warp is slackened by a motion derived directly from the lay as the latter moves forwardly, thus avoiding slackening too early in the weaving operation. It will also be seen that the cam is so constructed that the slackener, even though deriving its motion from the lay, reaches the forward limit of its slackening movement before the lay reaches its front center position, thereby insuring a desirable tension on the crossing warps which will prevent the formation of loops which might otherwise occur unless the crossing warps were subjected to tension before the beat-up of the lay. The pattern mechanism is also effective to move a controller which simultaneously unlocks the control for the slackener bar and sets the feed pawl 63 and also the return pawl 35 for operation. The disk 52 serves also the purpose of holding the depressor pin 54 elevated during the return stroke of the bar, thus permitting the ratchet 35 to be advanced step by step to a position where the lever 42 can again return to normal position in one of the notches 5i or 51a.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the inven tion and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. In a loom having a warp to be slackened, a slackener having a working slackening stroke followed by a return non-slackening stroke, a control member for the slackener to have two different motions one of which occurs during the working stroke of the slackener and the other of which occurs during the non-working stroke of the slackener, and two actuators for the memher, the first actuator to be operatively related to the member at relatively long intervals to give said member the first of its said motions, and the second actuator brought into operative relation by the first motion of the member and operative to give said member its second motion.

2. In a loom having a. warp to be slackened, a slackener having a working stroke to slacken the warp and a return stroke preparatory to the next working stroke, a rotatable controller operatively related to the slackener and having a given angular motion for the working and a second angular motion for the return stroke of the slackener, two actuators for the controller, the first actuator operative at relatively long intervals to give the controller its first angular motion to effect the working stroke of the slackener, and the second actuator normally incapable of imparting angular motion to the controller but rendered operative by operation of the first actuator to give the controller its second angular motion to effect return movement of the slackener.

3. In a loom having a warp to be slackened, a slackener having a working stroke to slacken warp and a return non-slackening stroke, a rotatable controller having a given angular motion for the working and a second angular motion for the return stroke of the slackener, and two actuators for the controller, one of said actuators operative at relatively long intervals to give the controller its first given angular motion to effect the working stroke of the slackener, and the second actuator operative subsequently to the first actuator to give the controller its second. angular motion to effect return motion of the slackener.

4. In a loom having a warp to be slackened, a slackener having a working stroke to slacken the warp and a return stroke preparatory to the next working stroke, a rotatable controller operatively related to the slackener and having a given angular motion for the working and another angular motion for the return stroke of the slackener, and two actuators for the controller, one of said actuators comprising a regularly moving part to be operatively related to the controller at relatively long intervals to give said controller the first of its angular motions to cause a working stroke of the slackener, and the second actuator operative after the first actuator and including a regularly moving part to be operatively related to the controller to give the latter its other angular motion to effect return motion of the slackener.

5. In a loom having a lay and a slackener for cross warps, a control shaft, a cam on the shaft, a disk fastened to the shaft, an actuator given regular motions by the lay, means operative at periodic intervals in the operation of the loom to connect the actuator and disk operatively to cause angular motion of the shaft to move the cam, a ratchet wheel fastened to the shaft, a feed pawl for the ratchet wheel having regular motions and operative to give the shaft a step by step advance angular motion between said periodic intervals, and operative connections between the cam and the slackener effective to give the latter a warp feeding motion in one direction when the disk moves the shaft and effective to give the slackener a reverse motion when the ratchet moves the shaft.

6. In a loom having a lay and a slackener for cross warps having slackening and return movements, a control shaft, means effective by rotation of the shaft to control the slackener, a regularly moving actuator, pattern mechanism efiective at periodic intervals in the loom operation to connect the actuator and shaft operatively to give the shaft a relatively large motion to effect warp slackening, a second regularly moving actuator, and means interposed between the second actuator and the shaft to give the latter a relatively slow progressive angular motion between said periodic int-ervals to effect return motion of the slackener. V

7. In a loom operating with two spaced webs to be connected by crossing warps, a slackener for the crossing warps to have feeding, return, and idle periods, an actuator for the slackener to give the latter a feeding motion, a second actuator for the slackener controlled by the first actuator to give the slackener its return motion, means to interrupt operative connections between the second actuator and the slackener at the end of the return period of the slackener, and counting mechanism to determine the length of the idle period of the slackener and operative at the end of the idle period to relate the first actuator operatively to the slackener.

8. In a loom operating with two spaced webs to be connected by crossing warps, a slackener for the crossing warps having feeding, return, and idle periods, two actuators for the slackener, one for the feeding period and the other for the return period, and counting mechanism to determine the length of the idle period and operatively related to one of the actuators to relate the latter operatively to the slackener.

9. In a loom operating with two spaced Webs to be connected by crossing warps, a slackener for the crossing warps having feeding, return, and idle periods, two actuators for the slackener, one for the feeding period and the other for the return period, counting mechanism to determine the length of the idle period and operatively related to one of the actuators to connect the latter operatively to the slackener, and control connections between the actuators whereby operation of one actuator renders the other operatively relatable to the slackener.

10. In a loom having a crossingwarp, a slackening element movable from normal warp tightening to warp slackening position, pattern mechanism to call a crossing of the warps at periodic intervals, control means for the slackener element, a lock to hold the control means against motion, said control means having a motion corresponding to 'a slackening motion of the element, feed means normally inoperative relatively to the control means, and connections between the pattern mechanism and the lock and feed means operative upon a crossing indication from the pattern mechanism to move the lock out of locking position and to move the feed means into operative feeding relation with respect to the control means.

11. In a loom having a crossing warp, a cross: ing warp controlling member normally positioned to hold the crossing warp tight and movable to slacken the crossing warp, a regularly moving resetting element, a lock for the member, feed means for the member normally inoperative relatively to said member, and pattern mechanism effective upon a crossing warp beat of the loom to move the lock out of locking relation and operatively relate the feed means to the member and effect operative relation between the regularly moving resetting element and the member.

12. In a loom having a crossing warp, a member operatively related to the crossing warp to slacken and tighten the latter, a lock disk moving with the member, a lock for the disk normally operative to prevent movement of the latter, step by step operating means to return the member to normal warp tightening position, and means moving with the lock torender said step by step means inoperative when the disk is locked, the disk effective to maintain the step by step means operative when said diskis unlocked." 1'3. Inia loom having a crossing 'warp, pattern mechanism to cross the warp at periodic inter vals, a control member for the crossing warps, a disk moving with the member having two spaced notches, a lock normally in one of the notches to hold the member against motion, means to move the lock to unlocked position, means to move the member and disk a distance less than that corresponding to the distance between the notches, and other means to move the disk to cause the second notch to move under the look before the pattern mechanism calls for a second crossing of the warps. V

14. In a loom having a warpto be slackened, a slackener element for the warp movable from warp tightening towarp slackening position, control means including a cam surface effective to regulate the movement of the slackener element and cause the latter to move toward warp slackening position by a motion proportional to the motion of the control meanssaid control means having also a' dwell surfacetoarrest motion of the slackener element while said control means continues to move, a lay, and actuating means to connect the lay with the control means during forward motion of the lay, said actuating means causing the control means to have a mo tion proportional to the motion of the lay'and the cam surface causing the slackener element to have a gradual motion from lwarp tightening to warp slackening position and said dwell surface operative to limit motion of the slackener element before the lay reaches extreme forward position.

' ELBRIDGE R. HOLMES. 

